Division of Labor and Industry

Citation Order, Grouping, Numbering,
and Characterization of Citations for the Notice of Citation and Penalty

Cancellation:

MOSH Memorandum 99-6

Effective Date:

October 1, 2007

Date:

January 24, 2008

A. Purpose: To establish uniform guidelines for the order and grouping
of standards, and the numbering and characterization of citations
to ensure consistency throughout the five regions.

B. Action:

1. OSHA-1Bs shall be numbered and grouped in accordance with the following rules:

Citation 1 is for citations characterized as Serious unless no Serious
citations are being recommended for issuance.

Citation 2 is for citations characterized as OTS except when Willful
or Repeat violations are being recommended for issuance.

When Willful and Repeat citations are both recommended Citation 2
is for those violations characterized as Willful and Citation
3 is for those violations characterization as Repeat.

Repeat violations are characterized as Repeat regardless of severity.
The characterization of a citation as Repeat Serious and
Repeat OTS is no longer to be used.

Related Serious violations may be grouped for penalty purposes when the hazard
and the source of the hazard are the same. As a general rule
related Serious violations are to be grouped for penalty
purposes. Factors which might influence not grouping related
Serious violations could be an employer's attitude during
an inspection or an employer's history.

Training violations may be grouped with related Serious violations for penalty
purposes only when an employer employs 250 or less employees (total).

OTS violations may be grouped with related OTS violations for penalty
purposes only when an employer employs 250 or less employees (total).

OTS violations shall not be grouped with related Serious violations
for penalty purposes.

2. The order of standards, rules, and regulations on the Citation and Notice of Penalty shall
be as follows:

The order of violations of a standard, rule, or regulation within a Citation shall always
start with the lowest number and proceed to the highest number.

3. Failure To Correct violation(s) shall be issued with the same Citation
and Item number(s) as on the original Citation and Notification
of Penalty, and are issued on a separate Citation and Notification of Penalty document.

4. Compliance supervisors shall ensure that compliance officers are trained in the contents
of this Instruction.